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Phyto-active ingredients successfully replace antibiotic growth promoters and maintain or improve productivity
Consumers around the world are progressively concerned about the presence of antibiotic residues in meat, eggs and milk. Furthermore, the use of antibiotic growth promoters is increasingly restricted or prohibited and there is more and more control over the use of antibiotics for the treatment of diseases. Recently, some top integrators, fast food chains and supermarkets use “antibiotic free” labelling as a marketing strategy.
The finisher stage of broilers is a critical time as there is a high density of animals and therefore the risk of diseases increases, while the use of many antibiotics and anticoccidials is restricted due to their withdrawal period. During this crucial stage, phyto-active ingredients are more effective than other products to maintain digestive health and productivity avoiding the use of antibiotics. We discussed why phyo-active ingredients are able to replace antibiotic growth promoters in this blog.
The USDA-Food Safety and Inspection Service advises to use organic acids in drinking water (USDA-FSIS, 2008) during finisher stage to control pathogens in broilers, especially during feed withdrawal period. Acidification of drinking water is fairly cheap and therefore it is a common practice in farms around the world.
However, it must be stressed that water acidification will only be effective if pH of water at bird level is between 3.5 and 4. The concentration of organic acids in water it’s not important when it comes to bacterial control; final pH of water is the determining factor. As a consequence, the water acidification is a cheap practice, but has some major disadvantages:
Phyto-active ingredients are an excellent alternative to organic acids. Besides overcoming all the disadvantages described above, they show other benefits:
The use of phyto-active ingredients resulted in more weight gain, better efficiency, less mortality and a similar FCR. Therefore, it can be concluded that phyto-active ingredients improved the health and the productivity of the farm.
PlusProtect Digestive© is intended for digestive health in birds and rabbits of all ages. It is formulated with synergistic ingredients:
PlusProtect Digestive© is useful to improve gut health in the following cases:
Certain health statements may not be applicable in your region.